Friday, July 18, 2008

To Dublin With Love airs on Bravo this Sunday at 8 p.m.

To Dublin With Love (Sunday, Bravo!, 8 p.m.) is a documentary about the posse from the March Hare going to Ireland last year. The March Hare is an arts institution in Newfoundland, a travelling assortment of poets, writers and musicians who go from place to place to lighten the burden of the gloom in the grim March days. It being the 20th anniversary last year, the Hare sent a bunch of its stalwart artists to Ireland.

The doc, made by Barbara Doran, is more about the Hare (started by the late poet Al Pittman, who receives much praise) than it is about Ireland. There are very pretty, touristy scenes of Dublin and the Irish landscape. And there is commentary from Des Walsh, Lisa Moore, Michael Crummey and others, but little sense of how the Irish might connect with Newfoundland artists. I can tell you a bit about that. I suggested to my mom and dad that they check out the March Hare in Dublin and they did. Crummey told them how to pronounce "Newfoundland" as Newfoundlanders do, and my father educated Crummey on how to recognize a good pint of Guinness and a poor one. Yes, they connected.